Ireland’s Shane Lowry wrote his name into the record books with a stunning burst of scoring on day one of the Players Championship at Sawgrass.

Lowry was level par halfway through his opening round of the so-called “fifth major” before storming home in a tournament-record 29 shots to claim a share of the clubhouse lead.

The 29-year-old, who has recorded just one top-10 finish this season, holed from 35 feet for birdie on the 10th and chipped in for an eagle on the par-five 11th before picking up further shots from inside six feet on the 12th and 13th.

Lowry also birdied the par-five 16th and, after missing from 10 feet on the famous par-three 17th, made his final gain of the day from 12 feet on the 18th to join American Cameron Tringale in the clubhouse on seven under par.

World number one Jason Day, who has missed the cut three times in five appearances at Sawgrass, was also seven under with three holes remaining, with Itlay’s Francesco Molinari, four-time major winner Ernie Els and American Hudson Swafford all recording rounds of 66.

In his first appearance since squandering a five-shot lead with nine holes to play in the Masters, Jordan Spieth was one under par with three holes to play after following a hat-trick of birdies from the second with dropped shots on the fifth and sixth.